ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Iraq and Syria on Friday signed an initial deal, supported by the US, to construct a pipeline connecting Kirkuk to Baniyas.
The Memorandum of Understanding was signed in Washington under the auspices of US Secretary of Energy Chris Wright. The deal aims to "enhance joint cooperation in the oil and gas sectors," the Iraqi oil ministry said in a statement on Friday.
"The agreement focuses on the implementation of the 'Vital Energy Corridor' project, designed to connect oil production to global export markets via the Mediterranean Sea," it added. "It involves the construction of a pipeline extending to the Syrian coast on the Mediterranean, aimed at diversifying export routes and strengthening regional energy security."
Under the agreement, the Kirkuk-Baniyas pipeline, which was constructed decades ago but was damaged during the Syrian civil war, will be renovated, Syrian state media reported.
Ahmed Qabbaji, deputy CEO of the Syrian Petroleum Company, told Rudaw's Nalin Hassan on Friday that the new pipeline will replace the old line. He noted that the new line's capacity will reach two million barrels per day, and it is expected to be completed within 30 months of the agreement being signed.
The agreement was signed during the US-Iraq High-Level Business Summit in Washington, hosted by the US Chamber of Commerce. It was part of a wider package of roughly 50 agreements and memorandums of understanding between Iraq and the United States valued at a combined $60 billion.
Tom Barrack, US Special Envoy for Syria and Iraq, also attended the event.
US President Donald Trump's "new paradigm of Middle East nation states connectivity alliances paired with Iraq's young, bold, and visionary PM @alZaidi, is charting a transformative corridor across Mesopotamia, the Levant, Türkiye, and the Gulf—rendering the Strait of Hormuz far less consequential very soon," he later said in a post on X.
The project will be implemented by a US-led consortium that includes Chevron.
The development comes against the backdrop of Washington’s efforts to diminish the significance of the Strait of Hormuz, which has been used by Iran as a trump card during its ongoing war with the US. Iraq exported most of its oil through the waterway before its closure.
